Word

	Upload the .docx	Export a PDF yourself
Plans	Paid plans	Every plan
Page breaks	Our converter decides them, so they can shift	Exactly as Word laid them out
Best for	Quick sharing of a text document	Anything where layout or page numbers matter

A Word document has no fixed pages. Word works out where each page breaks on your computer, with your fonts, and a different program can break the same text differently. So a long document uploaded as a .docx can come out a page or two different from what you saw. If page numbers matter, for a report with a contents page or anything you’ll refer to as “see page 12”, export the PDF yourself.

Export a PDF on Windows

1. File → Save As (or Save a Copy), and choose where to save it.
2. Set the file type to PDF.
3. Click Options… and check:
   • Document structure tags for accessibility: tick it. It helps screen readers and costs nothing.
   • Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded: leave it off. It turns text in any font Word can’t embed into a picture of text, which can’t be searched or read aloud. Embedding your fonts (below) is the better fix.
4. Click Save.

To make sure your fonts travel with the file: File → Options → Save → Embed fonts in the file.

Export a PDF on a Mac

1. File → Save As, and set File Format to PDF.
2. Choose Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (uses Microsoft online service).
3. Click Export.

Why not “Best for printing”?

Microsoft notes that with Best for printing, hyperlinks may not convert correctly. The online option makes a better PDF for screens, with two things to know: the file is sent to Microsoft’s service to be converted, and custom fonts are replaced unless they’re embedded in the document.

Export a PDF from Word for the web

File → Export → Download as PDF. No advanced options; for those, open the document in the desktop app.

Contents pages and cross-references

Word turns a table of contents into links that jump to each heading. Those jumps aren’t clickable in Living Page yet: we keep links to web pages and email addresses, not links between pages of the same document. On a paid plan you can draw page links over your contents page in a minute. See Links and video overlays and Keeping links clickable.

If the file is too big

Photos are nearly always the cause. Select a picture, use Picture Format → Compress Pictures, apply it to all pictures and pick a lower resolution. Word’s default is 220 ppi; 150 ppi is plenty for reading on screen. Then export again. More in Getting a PDF under 50 MB.

Checklist

• Exported the PDF yourself if page numbers matter
• Clicked a link in the PDF and it opened
• Text can be selected in the PDF (it’s real text, not a picture of it)
• Under 50 MB